Father, Forgive Me Poem by Linda Marie Van Tassell

Father, forgive me.
I have had enough of love,
of loving for free
down below and up above
the ghosts in my skin
who haunt me both day and night
residing within
like dark clouds blocking my sight.

I tear at my breast,
burst into a burning flame.
I thought You knew best,
but all I feel is my shame.
Perfection is rot
like an over-ripened fruit;
and all I have got
is the vain, weary pursuit.

Sweet wine on my tongue
embittered body and soul.
No love ever sung
was without brambles or toll.
Loose me or lose me.
Forgive me that I forget
bruises on body
and aberrations of jet.

The flocking of night
is lit by starlight on strings.
My birth is my right.
You promised so many things.
Silence is heavy
and surges into a roar.
Love is the levee,
but it can withstand no more.

I build an altar,
a meek scattering of stones;
and when I falter
within the bane of my bones,
Father, forgive me.
The grape withers on the vine.
I wanted to be
so much more than thee or thine.

Cry me a river
into the nib of my pen,
a bow and quiver
in the fragile world of men.
To know what I know
is to know what I am not,
to simply let go
and let it all be forgot.